Cabinet sliding doors locking arrangement



May 24, 1960 l v. H. Hll-:Rs

CABINET sLIDING DooRs LOCKING ARRANGEMENT Filed June 19, 957

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May 24, 1960 v. H. HIERs CBINET SLIDING DOORS LOCKING ARRANGEMENT 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 19, 1957 United States Patent `(i) CABINET SLIDING DOORS LOCKING ARRANGEMENT Victor H. Hiers,rTwo Rivers, Wis., assignor to Hamilton Manufacturing Company, Two Rivers, Wis.

Filed June 19, 1951, ser. No. 666,695

1 claim. (ci. zo-m) This invention relates to sliding doors for cabinets more particularly of the sheet metal type such as are used in laboratory equipment and the like.

The locking arrangement of the present invention is desirably relatively inconspicuous on the cabinet while at the same time locking the sliding door panels both against relative movement whereby access to the interior of the cabinet is elected and also against joint'movement by which the doors otherwise might be removed from the cabinet.

An important object of the invention is the provision of a relatively simple and inexpensive locking arrangement,rwhich, at the same time, in the unlocked position permits ready removability of the doors from thev cabinet for cleaning or other such purposes,

These and other objects and advantages will beapthe door is closed, a bracket 23 (Fig. 3 et seq.). The

bracket 23 comprises a pair of end plate portions 24 and 25 and an integral intermediate olset portion 26, this offset portionbeing, as here shown, ofrright angular channel formation projected in the plane ofthe door 15 beyond the end plate portions 24 and 25. The bracket 23 is conveniently attached to the door edge 22 by weld? ing 27 at the end plate portions 24-and 25. One of the end plate portions, in this instance the portion 24, is provided with a lateral angular extensionr 28, and the other end plate portion 25 has its corner that is vertically aligned with the extension 28, cut out as at 29, both for purposes later herein explained. The bracket 23 vis advantageously formed from an initially at stamping.

`Further in accordance with the present invention the other door, in this instance the door 16, which travels in the outer track 17, carries on its inner face contiguous to its vertical edge that is adjacent to the center of the cabinet when the door is closed, a lock mechanism that includes a dead bolt 31 arranged in thisl instance to move in a vertical directionl under the inuence of a key (not shown) that may be inserted in the key hole 32 in the outer face of the door 16. jA guide angle 33 also secured to the inner face of the door 16 is here shown notched as at 34 to reinforce and direct the movement of the bolt 31.

parent from the following description, taken together'with i the accompanying drawings, showing an illustrative venibodiment of the invention, and in which drawings- Figure 1 is an elevational view of a cabinet with theV Figure 3 is a plan section, on the scale of Fig. 2, takenv on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1;

Figure 4 is a fragmentary vertical section, or face view, of certain parts shown in Fig. 3, taken on the line 4 4 thereof;

Figure 5 is a fragmentary end view of parts shown in ig. 4, and being a section taken on the line 5-5 of Fig.

; and

Figure 6 is a perspective view of parts shown in Figs. 3, 4 and 5.

Referring in detail to the illustrative construction shown in the drawings, the cabinet 11 may be of either the oor or wall type and may advantageously be formed of sheet metal in accordance with my co-pending application entitled Joint Construction for Sheet Metal Cabinets Serial No. 658,462, filed May 10, 1957. The cabinet in this instance has the end walls 12, bottom wall 13, and top wall 14. Sliding sheet metal doors 15 and 16 close the front of the cabinet.

The doors 15 and 16 run in parallel tracks 17 and 18 carried by the lower wall 13 and corresponding inverted channels 19 and 20 respectively in the upper wall 14. The vertical dimension of the inverted channels 19 and 20 in such that the doors, in their unlocked position, may be removed from the cabinet 11 by lifting them so that their runners 21 that travel in the tracks 17 and 18 respectively are raised above the tracks, whereupon the doors may be angled outwardly at their lower ends to remove them from the inverted channels 19 and 20.

Turning now to the locking arrangement expedients of the present invention, one of the doors, in this instance the door 15 that is in the inner track 18 carries on its vertical edge 22, adjacent the center of the cabinet when The bracket 23, following the present invention, is provided with a pair of right angularly related'shoulders, one of these shoulders, in this instance the shoulder 35, being constituted by the face of the end plate portion 25 justfabove the cutout 29, and the other of said shoulders being constituted by the under edge 36 of the offset portion 26 of the bracket. Thus, in the locked position of the parts, for example as shown in Fig. 6, the bolt 31 of the lock is moved (by the key) to a position where upon relative movement of the doors, the bolt will abut both the shoulders 35 and 36. By abutment of the bolt 31 with the shoulder 35, relative sliding movement of the doors 15 and 16 is limited so as to prevent suicient sliding movement to give access to the interior of the cabinet. By abutment with the shoulder 36, relative lifting movement of the door 16 with'respect to the door 15 is inhibited. Shoulder 35 typiies a single laterally facing shoulder and shoulder 36 a single downwardly vertically facing shoulder.

Also, in accordance with the present invention, means are provided for limiting upward movement of both doors together so as to prevent their removal from the tracks 17 and 18. Such means is here shown in the form of vertically registering elements or pads 37 on the upper` edge ,of door 15 and blocks 38 lixed in the inverted channel 20 for the door 15. As here shown, there are two such pads 37 and two such blocks 38. When the door 15 is in position closing the cabinet against access to its interior the pads 37 register with their corresponding blocks 38 and prevent lifting of the door 15, and consequently prevent lifting of the door 16 also, since the latter cannot be lifted without lifting the door 15 by reason of abutment of the bolt 31 with the bracket shoulder 36.

Still further following the present invention, when the doors 15 and 16'are in position closing the cabinet 11, the angular extension 28 of the plate portion 24 of the bracket 23 hooks around the flange 39 that comprises one edge member of the door 16. The llange 39 is an integral return bent portion that in turn is integral with the front panel 41 .of the door 16. Similarly the door 15 is provided on its edge with a return bent portion 42 that is integral with the door edge 22 that in turn is formed from the panel 43 for the door 15. As is well known in the art, the door construction 39, 40 and 41 in the case of the door 16, and 42, 22 and 43 in the Patented May 24, 1960,

case of the -door 15 reinforces the doors vagainst collapse or distortion.

By reason of the interlock as shown between the angular extension 28 of the bracket 23 which is carried by the door 15 and the flange 39 -which is a part of the door 16, attempted spreading movements of the doors to permit the bolt 31 to pass by the shoulder 35 in the locked position of the doors is prevented.

When it is desired to open the doors by relative sliding movement thereof in their tracks 17 and 18, the key already mentioned is reinserted in the key hole 32 and the lock mechanism 30 actuated to drop the bolt 31 to a position below the shoulder 35. When this is done the doors may have relative sliding movement for access to the cabinet or, if it be desired to remove the 'doors -15 and 16 entirely, for cleaning or other purposes, the door 15 may be slid to a position where 4the pads 37 are out of register with the blocks 38 whereupon the door 15 may be lifted out of track 18. Before `this has-been done, the door 16 may be lifted from its `track 17 by reason of the fact that lthe lock mechanism 30 in any open position of the door 15, is out of vertical alignment with the bracket 23 of the door 15.

Depressions 44 are formed in the outer faces of the doors 15 and 16 respectively to serve as finger holds for causing easy sliding movement of the doors when the lock 30 is in the unlocked position.

The pads 37 may be secured by nut and bolt devices 45 on the upper edge of the door 15 and the blocks 38 may be suitably supported in the inverted channel 20 'to face downwardly therein as shown in the drawing.

Bumper strips 47 are shown carried on the inner faces of the walls 12 to abut the doors when the latter are in the closed position.

The tracks 17 and 18 are desirably formed integrally of say molded nylon in which the door runners 21 glide.

So constructed and arranged, simple and ecient locking expedients for the doors are effected.

The invention is not intended to be limited to all details of construction shown for pfrposes of exempliiication in accordance with the statutes, and it is to be understood that such changes, including modifications or additions, may be made as fall within the scape of the appended claim without departing from the invention.

What is here claimed is:

In cabinet sliding door locking arrangements, a first door panel having an edge, a bracket having a pair of spaced apart end portions secured to said edge and an intermediate otset portion between said end portions, said offset portion providing a downwardly facing shoulder, said bracket being wider than the door edge except at the lower end of the lowermost of said end portions whereby a portion of said lowermost end portion provides a laterally facing shoulder projecting outwardly of the panel edge, a ange on the uppermost of the end portions extending oppositely from said offset portion and spaced outwardly of the panel edge, a second door panel carrying a lock on its inner face including a vertically movable bolt arranged in its uppermost position to abut both said shoulders, said second door panel having a reverse bent channel edge including an inwardly spaced ange interlocking with the rst ange.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS '1,845,458 Walton Feb. 16, 1932 1,846,822 Vogt Feb. 23, 1932 2,192,519 King Mar. 5, 1940 2,672,656 Lorenz Mar. 23, 1954 2,685,110 Hauck Aug. 3, 1954 2,719,340 Best et al. Oct. 4, 1955 2,804,954 Gillespie Sept. 3, 1957 

